The Lord's Favor: Releasing Yourself (North OC)

Marcel Hall: Amen.

You know, today is different 'cause I'm doing a little short

devotional and I'm not rocking a suit, you know what I'm saying?

So usually if you're visiting here, always have the suit on, suited and booted.

All right?

And, uh, so we're not doing that today.

For the past several months, uh, God has been taking our church on a journey,

a jubilee journey, and we started off with talking about the heart of Jubilee.

And, uh, in Leviticus 25, we learned that God had called his

people to honor and celebrate.

What we would be, what would be called the Jubilee.

And you say, well, what was the jubilee?

And so here's what God called his people to do every 50 years he

called them to really trust him and to have a time of complete rest.

Can I get a hallelujah for that?

Don't you want some rest today?

I was talking with my cousin, Charmaine, and she was like, I've been tired.

I've been working all week, and she wants some rest today, but

do not fall asleep right now.

Okay, Charmaine.

There we go.

But every 50 years God called his people to rest, to forgive debts and

also return land to the original.

Families.

And so God intended for this jubilee, not to just be something that's

done on a physical, tangible level, but it was a spiritual component.

It was a spiritual releasing, a spiritual time of trusting, refining of growth,

and really experiencing God's favor.

And so we realized as we studied out that the heart of Jubilee, what God's heart

was, is he wanted his people to have rest.

He wanted his people to have a time to be released or to release others

from debts and also for things to be restored that had been broken or lost.

And then in August, our church, we had an LA Jubilee of with thousands coming.

From all across Southern California and outside of Southern California to

celebrate God and, and to be able to, uh, uh, uh, uh, rejoice in all that he

is and all that he has done in our lives.

And so we realized, you know what?

The Jubilee wasn't an event, it wasn't a conference, it wasn't a weekend,

it was actually a season, and we felt like God was leading us to have our

own biblical inspired Jubilee season.

And so we have now been as what we've called here the last couple of months

here in the season of the Lord's favor.

And so this is a time where we can collectively and individually have a time

to have a reset, release and restore.

So as you can see even on the screen, we have some things that we've done

and are doing and will do, and we had a fasting and prayer chain and thank you

to all those who participated in that.

And then, uh, what we're doing today, we're having our release Sunday, we had.

A service project yesterday.

I wanna thank Julie Barber.

That was great to be at and serve yesterday.

And then next month we're gonna have a gratitude wall and also, uh,

some more serving opportunities.

And now we have a current sermon series, which we're in the middle of,

called The Lord's Favor, where we're diving deeper into the concepts of.

Release and restore.

And we began talking about resetting how God wants to have

a reset in our relationship with him and what a blessing that is.

And then his favor also includes a reset in our relationships with other

people and how we can view people the way God wants us to view them.

And then also a reset in what we pursue in pursuing holiness over pursuing happiness.

And now we're here in our time of release.

This is the step where we let go of what may be holding us back from truly

walking fully in the favor of God.

And so we talked about releasing the world's grip.

On our lives and upon our hearts.

And last week Daniel preached a great message about releasing others and

forgiveness and, and being able to be freed ourselves when we release others.

And then we've had over the last, uh, seven days devotionals that

we've had called 10 Days of Release.

And some people thought, well, why'd we have 10 days if we're

only giving it seven days ahead?

Because we actually want this to continue afterward.

And so we have our time today.

We can continue with learning and growing and being able to be released

and also release others as well.

And today, we'll collectively, uh, be releasing many things, sin

burdens, hurt and unforgiveness.

But before we can do that, we must talk about releasing our.

Let's go to the father in prayer.

Father, thank you so much for your word, for the opportunity to grow

the know, to know that we do not have to be shackled down by anything.

In the past, and God, whether it be others, whether it be ourselves,

father, sin, temptation, whatever it is, God, there is freedom in Christ.

And Father, we pray right now, again, open up our hearts so that we can

fully be engaged and immersed in what you are trying to say and what

you are trying to do in our lives.

We pray in Jesus name.

Amen.

I wanna remind us of this principle here, that there is true freedom.

Christ, and that if you want freedom in your life, the only true and complete

freedom that you want to have and that God wants you to experience can

only be found in and through Christ.

We're gonna go over to Luke chapter four.

This has been our theme passage.

For our series the Lord's Favor.

And Jesus, when he announces to the world who he is, he's giving dropping

clues and he's letting people know.

And this time he makes a, a real pronouncement that he is the

Messiah, but also he's connecting himself to this Jubilee principle.

So he actually goes to the scrolls and he picks up the scroll, and he goes to

where Isaiah the prophet, had prophesied many years before about the Messiah

and what the Messiah would do, and he reads this passage, the spirit of the

Lord is on me, Luke four verse 18.

Because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the port he has sent me

to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind.

To set the oppress free to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

Isaiah prophesied release.

Jesus fulfilled it.

And today we live out that spiritually releasing sin burdens, brokenness

in order to walk in his favor.

And this is part of God's favor in his life, is that we have the opportunity to

be released from things that can chain us.

And the heart and the goal of God is freedom.

It's not bondage.

It's for us to be free from the things that can enslave.

Hold us back.

And you know, there's kind of a three common prisons

that hold our hearts captive.

And so we wanna look at this real quickly here.

What keeps us captive?

Well, number one, we know it's sin.

Sin can control us.

It could be a trap.

It's a snare, not only on our hearts, but in our faith and in

our lives and in our progression.

We also know that resentment and bitterness.

It also serves as a trap and can actually hold us captive.

We think we're holding others captive, but we're actually keeping ourselves bound.

And then the third one is shame and guilt.

Shame and guilt and regret.

Has shame, guilt, or regret ever affected your life?

Every single one of us.

It has gone through a time where we've been shamed or or ashamed of something

or guilty, and we've had so much regret that it affected our lives.

For some of us, the hardest person to forgive is ourselves.

For some of us, we believe, yeah, God forgives us, but we still

live like we're disqualified.

You know, these can be chains that prevent us from experiencing God's

favor of growth and really prevent us from being who he created us to be.

But Jesus came to bring true freedom, not just pieces of freedom.

Jesus doesn't break just some chains.

He breaks every chain.

In John chapter eight, Jesus is having this discussion with a group of people

and the religious leaders, and he talks about how if you're a slave to,

if you, you can be a slave to sin.

And they're like, that doesn't make sense.

And Jesus says this profound statement that I want us to read in John 8

36, he says, so if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

So if the sun sets you free talking about Jesus.

You'll be free indeed, free from sins bondage, but also of guilt and of shame.

Two examples come to mind when I think about this.

I think about I think about Simba from The Lion King.

We're all familiar with Simba from The Lion King.

If you haven't, why not?

What have you been waiting on the last 30 years?

You need to hurry up and watch The Lion King.

It's the best Disney movie there is.

Okay?

I know Toy Story and all that, but nothing beats Lion King.

Sorry.

We can squabble afterwards about that.

All right.

But I think a Simba, remember Simba, right?

His father dies and he, he runs from his past believing his

mistakes have disqualified him.

But when he finally looked into the water, when Rafiki takes him to

the water and he hears his father's voice, say, remember who you are.

Remember who you are.

Remember who you are.

At that moment, something changes for Simba.

He realized he'd been forgiven, but that he was still living like he was guilty.

And we know he goes on to be the Lion King.

And I think God is saying the same thing to some of us today.

Remember who?

You are, remember who you are.

If you're in Christ, you are forgiven and you're free.

I also think of the apostle Paul.

He, before he was Paul, he was saw as many of us know, and as

Saul, he persecuted the church.

He tried to literally imprison those who are becoming Christians.

He was a part of those who would actually kill Christians, but

then he becomes a Christian.

That's pretty incredible.

Not only does he become a Christian, but then he becomes a leader in the church and

he actually dies for his faith as well.

But here's the thing, when Paul first became a Christian, all the

Christians were afraid of him because they were like, if Paul's coming into

town, y'all better run because we've heard what he's done in other cities.

Imagine the first several years as a Christian for Paul.

When you come in, everybody's leery, skeptical.

Is he real?

Is he fake?

Is he just trying to get in so that he can get us?

And you're seeing Paul, you're seeing people that you may be their friends,

maybe family members you helped in prison or maybe even confirm their death.

I'm sure he was tempted with shame, guilt, and regret.

I mean, what a burden to carry.

Man.

I tried to stop all of this.

Some of us are still carrying a burden we can't let go of our past.

And then what happens is we start to develop some stinking thinking.

We're thinking we're, we're too sinful or we're too guilty to get right with God.

Some of us, we, we feel like, you know what?

We've gotten to the point where I don't really wanna try anymore.

I don't wanna give my all because I've tried in the past

and I've failed too many times.

Some of us, we keep

our mistakes on repeat, and we lose hope of

Marcel Hall: growth and hope of change.

Some of us as parents, we can think about the mistakes that we have made

with our children and think where they might be, maybe in their faith or in

life, we, we think it's our faults.

Some of us, it's the sin before we became a Christian, or for some of us, it's

the sin after we became a Christian.

We're like, man, I knew I shouldn't have did this.

I knew I knew better, but yet I still made this wicked mistake

and it's holding us back.

Some of us we're still thinking about maybe the abortion, the divorce,

the adultery or the crime that we committed, and it's GNA at us and we

are still enslaved and chained to it.

Again, preventing us from growth and the freedom that Christ offers.

Jesus.

He set Paul free and he didn't set him free.

He set him free indeed, and Paul understood the grace that freed him.

Look at what he says here in one Corinthians Chapter 15, church,

are you still with me this morning?

One, one Corinthians 15, verse 90 says, for I'm the least of the apostles, he's

like, I shouldn't even be an apostle.

This doesn't make any sense and do not deserve to be called an apostle

because I persecuted the Church of God.

But by the grace of God, I am what I am.

And his grace to me was not without effect.

He goes on in a letter he wrote to Timothy, his protege, and he says, even

though in one Timothy one, verse 13, he says, even though I was once a blasphemer,

he said, I did the worst thing ever.

I talked bad about the Messiah.

I said He wasn't the Christ and I, a persecutor and a violent man.

I was shown.

Mercy.

The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst.

He says, but this my, me being the worst of sinners served as an

example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

Paul knew what it meant to be released.

Released from his past.

From his guilt, from his shame because Grace didn't just cover his story, it

rewrote his story, and the same applies to us today, that grace, that mercy, that

freedom is available in Jesus Christ.

Can I get an amen?

And this isn't grace that is temporary.

This is grace that is permanent.

Again, I want us to re remember what Jesus said, so if the sun

sets you free, you will be free.

What indeed in Christ burdens can be dropped because you are free,

de free from the bondage of your current sin, free from bitterness and

resentment toward others, free from the past, mistakes, shame or guilt.

So how can we respond to this grace?

Let's walk into to the freedom of Christ today.

Let's experience God's freedom today.

'cause here's the thing, you can't carry guilt and grace at the same time.

You can't get carry guilt and grace at the same time.

And God doesn't want you to try that.

God wants you to carry his grace.

Let's release our burdens.

Let's release the sin and allow God's freedom to reign in our lives.

And so today you'll get to do something physical that reflects something spiritual

and act of release around the room.

As we've mentioned, as you've seen our stations, places to confess,

to forgive, to receive mercy, and to rest in God's presence.

Some of you need to release sin some.

Need to release someone else.

Some of us, the spirit is saying, release yourself.

You don't have to stay stuck in guilt or regrets.

You don't have to be stagnant in your faith.

You don't have to stay bound by unforgiveness because in

Christ, God releases you.

So I wanna give some instruction here for how this is going to work.

And so we have four stations all across here in the, uh, in

the, uh, performing arts center.

We have a, a station of confession and release, a station of for forgiveness.

That's the forgiveness wall right there.

We have another station of mercy.

And another station of prayer and reflection.

And so every one of you should have received a handout as you

were walking in, but there's gonna be a prompt at each station, and

that will guide your reflection and your symbolic form of release.

So you can go to the station and then come back to the seat if you like.

So you can go to one station, come back to your seat, sit about it, reflect upon

it, write down, uh, uh, uh, pray, and then you can go to the next station.

So you can do that or you can decide.

I'm just gonna go to each station, see what's going on.

Then I'm gonna come back to my seat and be able to partake in all of these things.

However you wanna do it, you can do it.

You can go in the order in which you think would be best.

And then we also have, this will be the area in which can be available

for prayer and reflection upon this.

And so, uh, you can sit in different seats all across here

by yourself to be able to pray.

You can also pray with others as well.

And then we also, on the handout that you have, you can write down.

Uh, any notes or reflections you have, but there's also information and direction on

there to remind you of what each station is about and what, uh, the activity is.

And so, we do have one station right there in the corner where Craig is for

those who might have some mobility issues.

And so all of the uh, uh, uh, things are right there.

And we're gonna give us about 20 to 25 minutes.

And then we're gonna go ahead and, uh, come back together

for a time of communion.

And so we will, uh, go to all the stations.

I'll give you guys like a two minute warning, and then we'll come

back and take communion together.

I wanna encourage you to really allow the spirit to show up, to not limit yourself.

Do not let insecurity.

And again, I'll encourage you, this isn't something that we wanna do two by two.

This is something you really wanna experience with you and God.

And so maybe you need someone to pray with and encourage you for that.

But let's go ahead and let's make sure that we're not using this as opportunities

to engage in a lot of conversation that can veer, but allow us to truly connect

with God and allow him to free us.

And so, God, let's go ahead and let's go to God in prayer and then

we'll have our stations of release.

Let's pray.

God, as we move into this time of release.

I pray that we do not hold back.

Let this morning be a time where change fall and hearts are free, where we

experience the freedom that you came to bring, that we can experience the

release of ourselves, of others, of the past, of situations, of our own

sin and God be reminded that in Christ we did not have pieces of freedom.

We have true and complete freedom and that we are free indeed.

I'm excited to see how your spirit will move in our hearts and in our minds.

God, you've been working on mine even this morning.

I started thinking, man, this is good for my soul.

There's something that that popped up that I didn't realize I need to deal with.

So I thank you in advance for the way you're working.

God, may you be pleased.

May you be glorified and may we receive your spirit in full.

In Jesus' name, amen.